March 12, 2012

St Peter's Church in Antakya..

Dear my friends, As I said you before, I made a visit to St Peter's church this saturday morning. Now I have some knowledges about the church. I took it from Wikipedia. Because my English is not enough to tell the church very correctly.

The Church of Saint Peter (Aramaic: Knisset Mar Semaan Kefa, St. Peter's Cave Church, Cave-Church of St. Peter) near Antakya (Antioch), Turkey, is composed of a cave carved into the mountainside on Mount Starius with a depth of 13 m, a width of 9.5 m and a height of 7 m. This cave, which was used by early Christians in the Antakya region, is one of Christianity's oldest churches.The founding of the church in Antioch can be traced to the Bible's Acts of the Apostles (11:25-27) where it is related that Barnabas travelled to Tarsus to bring Paul the Apostle there. They worked for one year with the nascent Christian community, and there the converts were called Christians for the first time in history. Christian tradition considers Peter, the first Apostle, as the founder of the church of Antioch, and the first priest of the Christian population that was established there; the Church of St. Peter is regarded by tradition as on the spot where he first preached the Gospel in Antioch.The oldest surviving parts of the church building date from at least the 4th or 5th century. These include some pieces of floor mosaics, and traces of frescoes on the right side of the altar. It is thought that the tunnel inside which opens to the mountain side served the Christians to evacuate the church in case of sudden raids and attacks. Water that seeps from the nearby rocks was gathered inside for drinking purposes, and was also used for baptisms. The collection of water, which visitors drank and collected to give to those who were ill (with the belief that it was healing and curative), has lessened as a result of recent earthquakes.[1]Crusaders who captured Antakya in 1098 lengthened the church by a few metres and connected it with two arches to the facade, which they constructed. This facade was rebuilt in 1863 by the Capuchin Friars who restored the church on the orders of Pope Pius IX. French Emperor Napoleon III also contributed to the restoration. The remains on the left hand side of the church entrance belong to colonnades that formerly stood in front of the church facade.On top of the stone altar located in the middle of the church is a stonework platform that was placed there in memory of the Saint Peter's Platform Holiday which was celebrated every 21 February in Antakya. The marble statue of Saint Peter on top of the altar was placed there in 1932.The garden of the church has been used as a cemetery for hundreds of years. Graves and burials have also been located inside the church, especially around the altar.Although it is a museum today, it is possible to perform ceremonies inside the church under the inspection of the Museum Management by obtaining a permit from the Office of the Provincial Governor.

The entrance of the cave church. You see It is on the mountain and The christians had made the church on the top of the mountain..

The altar and the St Peter's sculpture.

The altar. There are some images on the altar.

This is the tunnel in the church. The tunnel goes the some other caves on the mountain..

Apostle St. Peter's sculpture

This is the holly water for baptisms. I drunk this water to purify my sins.. The tourist guide said that..

these are some mosaics on the ground of the church.

The Altar again..

There are so many caves on the mountain. The tourist guide said that the caves were going to the top of the mountain..

The olive tree with Antakya(antioch) scenery..

The olive tree..

Antakya (Antioch) scenery from the mountain..

Another entrance of the church. And the first one is my car. I haven't got any photo of myself as I went there alone as always, I took my car's photo...

Another entrance of the church. This is the old entrance..

And another altar. It was outside of the church. I don't know why.. Maybe some restoration will be made..

Dear my friends,
In these times I have a very big sorrow for my insufficient English. I really want to tell the history of places very correctly but my English isn't enough to tell all of them very well.

I hope this photos may be helpful to show you one of the historical places of Antakya city. If you want to come here I ll be very happy to see you. And of course All of you may be my guests for all of your travel. You are all welcome.. All best wishes...

10 comments:

First....no apologies...your English is amazing. I am so frustrated that I have only one really solid language. I speak some French , enough to get by but not enough. I want to really learn at least one more language in my life. So you are way ahead of me. What an unbelievable tour you have taken us on. Such history.....that is what I love so much about getting to know others in the world....we have so much to offer each other!!!! I had missed a few of your posts...I just love the cooking posts!! That bread looks so wonderful!! I love to make bread...and I may have to try this...I love spicy food so I think I would really enjoy what you have in Turkey As always Thank you for opening your world to us !! Have a happy day!!

Dear Miss Holly and dear Okuyan. Thank you for all your good comments. I like to visit historical places all over the world. I like history very much actually. The world history. And I am reading so many history books to learn the old times of the world. So I want to show this antique church to my blog friends. I know Turkey is so far from U.S.A. So maybe you can't find and time to come here. But The blog friendship is very useful for this to see so many places in the world. I must say that I learn so many things about world cultures, cooking, life styles and of course crochet form you. I am trying to make the nw meal recipes whatever I saw from my blog friends. I have no facebook or twitter account or msn address. Blog friendship is real I think. When I saw your messages on my blog this is a happy day for me. Really I am happy you believe this. Thank you and all best wishes..

Beck, your photos are wonderful. That is something I will probably never see in my lifetime and you have made it possible! Thank you for being our tour guide to Antioch! It is amazing how they dug all of that out of a mountain. I also like the pictures of the city of Antioch. Have a great week. Lynne

I, too, agree! Your English is very good!! Thank you for showing us this amazing church. I hope to see it in person one day. I love history, but living in such a comparably young country, it is hard to fathom something that has been around as long as this church. Amazing!

Dear my friends, Jee, Heather, Lynne and Meggie, Thank you very much for your comments. DEar Jee, Yes that is a catholic church. That's so good that your friend came to Turkey. But I invite all of my blog friends to come and be my guests. All of you are welcome. All best and sunny days forever...

I love reading about the places that people visit. It's amazing to think that church has been there for over 1500 years. That church looks so interesting and I truly love that door. I want that door! xXx Helen

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Well, I am BECK. I am a veterinarian woman. I like crochet, quilting, knitting, DIY and something else in my rest of time. I live with my very beautiful daughter and my mother and also 2 sweet dogs and 1 baby cat. and I like all animals like my children. So now time to say Hi all my friends from Turkiye..